The Birsay Whalebone is a vertebra of a vast and long dead mammal from the front. From the back it’s a bird of prey zoning in on its next meal. For me, its twin aspects are both repellent and enthralling. Located on Mainland, Orkney, I know that all paths will lead to Birsay when I return there in January.

Betty Corrigall’s grave is possibly the loneliest place in the world. As a young woman in the late 18th century, she was abandoned by her lover when he discovered she was pregnant. Shunned by the local community and with no way out, Betty killed both herself and her unborn child. Their grave is located on wild and unconsecrated moorland on the Orcadian island of Hoy.

Arctic Willow is a prize winning goatling, an adolescent kid who is by turns stroppy, feisty and beguiling. Over the last six weeks I have been photographing her, which is not without its challenges because she’s in constant motion. Animals are certainly one of my “subjects” and I try to go beyond the furry cuteness to catch a sense of the being itself. In Artic Willow’s case, she’s such an in-your face- flamboyant diva that she overwhelms you with her “beingness”.

Recently I was sent a flyer for a cloud photo competition to be judged by the legendary Cloud Appreciation Society. Orkney - where I'm based at present - has enormous skies and dramatic weather. So, I have started looking upwards, an experience which is quite literally dizzying. To quote the great photographer Alfred Stieglitz: “My cloud photographs are equivalents of my most profound life experiences, my basic philosophy of life.”

The simmer dim is a very weird light. Affecting the Northern Isles of Scotland, it is a strange half light where evenings are endless and nights are brief or non-existent. Here, the light does not simply get darker, rather it becomes progressively less intense like a fading light bulb that needs to be changed. After nearly two weeks on Orkney, I’m getting used to it…almost!

Picture perfect? The early morning light, the ships and cloud reflections are all there, but so too is Orkney County Council with its extensive repairs to the water system. Personally I love a little imperfection: It shakes things up and throws them off balance. Location: Stromness, Mainland, Orkney

Storm or calm, the Pentland Firth is always deceptive. As a photographer, for me this moment was one of transcendence and peace. Yet I know that the Pentland Firth is one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world.

Thinking back to Orkney and wondering was it just a dream? So intense. The hallucinatory light. The surging, uneasy sea. And me as this infinitesimally tiny creature scratching its surfaces and waiting – with my camera – for the magic to emerge.